Typical electrical power systems in residential and commercial buildings distribute alternating current (AC) at line voltage (e.g., 110/220 V) to loads through one or more centralized AC panels. Increasingly, however, households and business electronic devices and lighting are powered by direct current (DC) at low voltage (12/24 V). Cost and efficiency of such DC loads are negatively impacted by the need to provide an AC-to-DC power rectifier, either within the DC device itself or as an external power supply. Moreover, the cost and efficiency of alternative DC power sources, such as solar and wind generators, is compromised by DC-to-AC and AC-to-DC conversions.
The need to efficiently accommodate DC loads demands a centralized low voltage DC power distribution system, which is the principal objective of the present invention.